She rambles on a lot and the lectures are useless and unrelated to the material. If attendance wasn't required, then I would've never gone and still gotten an A. Do not take this class for Comm B requirement. Her grading policies are unclear and strict with little to no feedback

Professor Loyd is knowledgeable, but her lectures suffer from poor organization and are hard to follow. Although your grade hinges more on essays and participation than exams, the midterm and final are difficult to study for. I gained some valuable insight during the semester at the cost of studying a lot of irrelevant material.

Not sure why most reviews are bad. Yes, it's not the most fun class but they make it clear what's expected and there is extra credit to boost your grade

Lectures are confusing & slides aren't posted. If you miss some notes, womp womp. The work in this class is annoying and often long. Some of it is necessary, but a lot of it just seems like work for the sake of giving work. Take what I say with a grain of salt but I would still feel the same way if I got an A. I don't recommend this class

Insanely lecture heavy and absolutely unrelated to geography whatsoever. DO NOT TAKE THIS

The lecture slides are not posted on Canvas, or anywhere for that matter, so if you miss class, or even just don't take your best notes for one day, you will be completely lost. All of the concepts are very choppy and disconnected, and I have no idea how anything connects back to geography. Lectures rag on and are unhelpful.

I would not recommend this course to anyone if its not required for your major. There is little organization in the lectures and the midterms and final study guides are confusing. She doesn't post the slides and it makes it really hard to study and follow along with the content.

I absolutely dreaded going to this class all semester. She does not post any of her lecture slides and you are also graded on lecture attendance. Half of what she talks about in lecture is random nonsense and then she skips through the slides that have any actual info on them. Also be prepared to read a bunch of nonsense to prep for class.

My friends and I have dreaded this class all semester. It's hard to take notes during her lectures because she's all over the place and can't stay on topic. She has an obsession with surfers and skateboarders and often talks about them during her lectures (I don't know why, they have nothing to do with the topic). She thinks she's great; she's not.

Generally uncaring and gives the impression that she doesn't want to really interact with students. Her lectures seem very disorganized and disconnected from the concepts in the readings, in discussion section, and on the tests. The lectures are miserable and attendance is mandatory.

Professor Loyd's lectures were very boring and dry, and she had a hard time finding any sort of relevance from the assigned readings and connecting it to her lecture. It felt like most of the class was filled with jargon that nobody really understood. Tests and essays are graded pretty easily, but not worth it. Take a different COMM B course.

A lot of what other people have said is true. The lectures are painfully boring and there is a ton of work for this class. The material could be easier to grasp, but I believe that Dr.Loyd makes it even more confusing, as her slides are all over the place.

The course itself has interesting concepts, unfortunately, the quizzes are unnecessarily difficult. All the quizzes felt very subjective in grading, especially the short answer questions which there is one per quiz worth 25 points of the quiz. Graders often nitpick very minute details on these. The essays were not that bad, however.

The lectures were boring and unnecessary. Majority of the stuff in lecture is not related to graded assessments, but attendance (mandatory) is still counted against you in your grade. The required readings and quizzes were not helpful at all either. Most of this class was just useless, busy work. Take a different Comm B class, trust me.

Very dull and boring lectures despite the topic actually being pretty interesting. The class consists of one large final paper that is essentially most of your grade. You will be assigned weekly reading which you will probably find unnecessary - same with the lectures (they have nothing to do with the final paper). Take a different COMM-B class

I took this course in the Spring of 2023, and I can definitely reiterate what a lot of other students have said. Her lectures are dull and you were assigned unnecessary readings. No slides. I stopped doing the readings, you honestly could get by without them. Most effort is towards a semester-long paper which consists of most of your grade.

Dr. Loyd was so boring and the weekly quizzes were way too specific/challenging. Lectures are 75 minutes and absolutely drag by, Dr. Loyd is so monotone and boring when she could be enthusiastic and make content actually interesting. Geog 101 had many interesting units/topics however the delivery was awful and slow.

Professor Loyd was not a bad person at all, but she was not the most entertaining lecturer. She also does not post lecture slides anywhere. The subject is really not bad, and it is obvious she is knowledgable, but her lectures were not easy to pay attention to. The readings were not interesting. Go to lecture and you can get an A.

Professor Loyd somehow managed to make an already confusing topic even more confusing. Lectures are painfully long and slides are not posted. There are no exams, just confusing quizzes with long essay questions. There are much easier and more intriguing Comm-B classes at UW. AVOID THIS CLASS!

I had friends who took this class with others professors and had it be super easy. However, when talking about what I have to deal with this semester they are shocked. Super boring lectures,confusing quizzes which all basically include a 3page essay. Gives no slides and talks a mile a minute so you cant keep up. DO NOT TAKE unless you want to write

For a 101 course that should have been interesting, Dr. Loyd somehow made it one of the most mind-numbing, boring and confusing courses I have even taken. The quizzes were way harder than they should be due to the wording used and tested on small, random details from readings or things said out loud in lecture. AVOID THIS CLASS at all costs.

This is a very lecture-heavy class, but she does NOT upload lecture slides, which you need for the information on the quizzes. Additionally, she has a very difficult time connecting her points together in lecture, which makes it hard to sit through and listen.

Very unprepared, wasted class time, did not give adequate notice of assignment changes, was never clear on assignment requirements, does not upload slides on canvas, uses jargon above the level of introductory, pretty boring to listen to overall

I really dislike this professor. Her lectures never have a solid argument or focal point and the way she connects unrelated topics is always sloppy. The topics presented loosely relate to anything geographic. If you want a geography class, please know this is not what you are looking for. After the first week, only about 1/5 came to lecture. Pros:

Good at fostering discussions to understand the material.

I would not recommend taking a class with Prof Loyd. She is monotone, which tend to make her lectures boring. You will get far more out of the class from the discussion section if you have a good TA. There is a lot of reading and writing for this class, but there is only one exam (which there were issues with in my semester).

One of my favorite professors, very kind and passionate about the topic. I was very interesting in the topic, but her lectures could get too detailed/boring. Pretty easy grader and the projects/essay were original and fun to work on.

Professor Loyd clearly cares, but is easily the least engaging professor I've ever had. The assigned readings were unnecessarily long and dry and I usually spent class time doing other work. What was important to pass this class was attending discussion and coming prepared for it. The content is extremely interesting but the presentation is not.

Her lectures are an hour 15 and could be condensed into around 25 minutes, she assigns multiple 50+ page readings a week that are never really used/ discussed. I took this class as an interesting ethnic studies class, and although it's not too tough to succeed in it's super boring and not worth the time

I've seen a lot of ratings from last fall saying there are a lot of pop quizzes but as of this semester she doesn't do them anymore. Anyway there's still a lot of reading but so I've heard it's not as intensive as it once was. I personally enjoyed this class, but don't take it if you expect to learn anything about urban planning.

Took this class because it was a suggested elective for my real estate major yet didn't learn one thing about urban planning. There's an unbelievable amount of readings that don't relate and the exams are so unnecessarily difficult and specific given that we're assigned 60+ pages of reading a week. STRONGLY advise against taking this class.

Loyd seems like a very nice lady but absolutely terrible speaker and so monotone and not interesting that half the class leaves before the end of her hour and 15 min lecture. Final project was given two weeks before it was due and it was worth more than final and a lot of work. Readings were terribly long and boring. Nothing about "city planning."

Without a doubt the worst class I have taken. The topics covered vary widely to the point where there is no common thread between the topics learned. Lectures are 1:15 long and could be condensed to around 15 minutes of actual substance. Pop quizzes are graded so that if you miss one question you lose an entire percent point on your grade.

Took this for an env. studies elective, nothing like what was written in the description. Only about race, not about how cities are built. Exam and quiz questions are confusing and seem to have multiple correct answers. Curriculum unclear, don't even know what I'm learning. Prof is dry and will call you out if you leave class. Very close-minded.

Seriously one of the worst professors I have ever had at UW. Took this class because I thought I would learn something about urban planning or the city but have learned nothing of the sort. She tried to make people to come to class by randomly giving pop quizzes but half the class fails them anyway. Would avoid like the plague

Took this course as an elective. One of the most closed-minded professors I have ever had. She only presents on her ideas (which youll figure out in 2 seconds by looking at her purple hair) instead of actual history. She gives pop quizzes where the average is 50% on weekly readings which average 60 pages per week. Hope shes not tenured.